So, get this… A center at BYU collated some survey numbers and guess what is up in Utah: support for civil unions and same-sex marriage. Check out some of their figures. First, all Utah voters: Second, political party identification: Third, by religion: No surprise that the nonreligious support civil unions…
Reclaiming Our Stories
This is the presentation I gave for the panel Who gets to say what former Mormons are like? which I organized at the 2012 Sunstone Symposium. I could see that she didn’t know what she was talking about just by the description of this book! Author needs to do her…
Sunstone 2013: Mormon Bodies: Literal, Metaphorical, Doctrinal
Sunstone 2013 will be held Wednesday, 31 July through Saturday, 3 August, on the Weber State Campus. The theme will be “Mormon Bodies: Literal, Metaphorical, Doctrinal” and the description published in the program reads as follows: One of Mormonism’s most distinctive attributes is the emphasis on embodiment, including the belief…
Criticism
This is the presentation I gave for the panel “Do Good Online Fences Make Good LDS Neighbors?” (which Andrew S and I organized) at the 2012 Sunstone Symposium. Criticism. Sometimes it tells you more about the critic and his own personal issues than bout the thing being criticized, doesn’t it?…
Because the Need to Understand a Relationship Often Doesn’t Die When the Relationship Does
Not surprisingly, one of the best parts of Sunstone for me involved Main Street Plaza. After the closing banquet (which included a terrific talk by Eunice Rho of the American Civil Liberties Union about the efforts of the ACLU to protect the religious rights of members of minority religions, like…
Mormons in Pride Parades Okay, I need to vent (Part 2)
(Part 1 is here.) Now that the Pride parades are almost wound down for the summer, there are concerns I have about the Mormon presence that I would like to address. One major theme I’ve seen is this idea that “local politics is inherently good politics.” Prominent liberal Mormon bloggers…
Better to laugh at yourself, or someone else?
I was talking to a friend, who stopped by to visit and see how I was doing. We got to talking about some of our favorite blog posts. We came up with a list of things that we thought make for memorable posts. I will do posts over the next…
Help? Do I belong here?
How do we help “new bloggers” find their voice? Are we really a community that does? I believe we are, or at least can be. Main Street Plaza is an Internet home for people who care about their thoughts and ideas, eventhough weoften disagree. Wedon’t have the same world view,but…
the Mormon quiz
Just caught this quiz on Facebook hosted by mormon.org. Feel free to take the quiz. I got 14 out of 14 correct, but two of the questions stood out. First, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really, really, really hate it when you associate Mormonism with…
Liveblogging Sunstone: day 0!
Tuesday afternoon: I arrive at SLC airport to find a sea of smiling faces on folks wielding bunches of balloons and banners saying “Welcome Home Elder So-and-So”. I immediately think to myself: This is the right place! Tuesday afternoon (continued): I arrive at the campus guest-house, and set up the…